


code: i found you

by chipettes



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, BroTP: Taehyung/Joshua, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 21:39:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4321725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chipettes/pseuds/chipettes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>sometimes joshua found the numbers on his wrist irritating and wished that finding his soulmate isn’t this complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	code: i found you

**Author's Note:**

> x-posted from lj, unbetaed | written for a friend!

the first time joshua saw numbers written on his wrist was when he was fifteen. they weren’t that readable, so he brushed it off and assumed that he accidentally put his arm on a permanent marker earlier that day, but even after a week it didn’t disappear, no matter how often he washed it. the numbers became more readable through the years and oddly enough, no one seemed to be interested or curious enough to ask him, so he decided to bring it up to his mother alone.  
  
17060541424360  
  
_it’s his soulmate code_.  
  
he didn’t need even more knowledge to figure out what to do with them. he never talked about it to anyone else other than his parents since then. none of his friends – even the ones he met on church – asked him why he started wearing wristband every single day.  
  
sometimes joshua found the numbers on his wrist irritating and wished that finding his soulmate isn’t this complicated. he had so many questions, too;  _does he need to travel across the world just to meet whoever that is? does he need to check everyone’s wrist to see if they have same kind of code? what will happen if he never finds the soulmate? what if the soulmate is already... dead?_  he shook his head at the thoughts.  
  
joshua thanked his mother for reminding him that there were other things he need to think about; his application to a college in seoul, for example.  
  
  
  
  
  
it took joshua months to finalize everything he needed to start his college life. his application had been accepted and he’s going to start his semester a month late. his cousin, yookyung, had found a potential dorm for him since they’re going to attend the same college anyway. he didn’t feel awkward when writing in hangeul after he received an intense tutoring from his father.  
  
his mind was pretty much too occupied with anything else to forget anything about the soulmate thing, it was only when yookyung drove him to the dorm when he remembered it – more like he accidentally noticed something like burn scars on her uncovered wrist and stared at it long enough for her to frown at his direction.  
  
“i assume that you also have the same thing on your wrist, but anyway...” she confessed later that day when they were moving his stuffs into his dorm, her voice shaky and slightly unsure, that her soulmate was no longer exist before they could even meet. joshua didn’t ask for more details on how she knew and whatsoever, patting her back gently to calm her down. what he knew was that it must be a painful memory and he wondered how she had to go around with a visible mark for people to stare and pity at every day.   
  
he decided that maybe he didn’t want that to happen to him.  
  
  
  
  
  
it was almost 9 p.m. when yookyung left, joshua was too busy with few documents that need to be given to the admission office later in the morning. his room was eerily quiet, only the sound from his earphones could be heard (“ _lemon soju, i’m tequila, you’re mojito~”)_  for the next ten minutes until someone barged into the room and was about to scream as if he’s seeing a ghost. joshua was quick enough to save him from falling with his butt landing first, belatedly realizing that he stepped on an important paper. goodness.  
  
“you okay there?” yep, joshua belatedly realized that he’s not in california anymore. he gave himself a mental slap. “s-sorry, are you okay?” there, he finally used korean, although his accent was still thick.  
  
“yeah, yeah, yeah,” the other guy nodded, quickly getting up before they ever got to experience  _that awkward moment_  – according to joshua’s own dictionary. “ah, sorry about that. i suppose you’re my roommate now? yookyung nuna’s cousin from america!?”  
  
joshua was flustered that his potential roommate seemed to know yookyung well. “y-yes, i’m joshua, i just arrived today.”  
  
“wow, joshua! i’m taehyung!” taehyung felt enthusiastic, repeating his name like he had just learned a new word. later on, taehyung brought him to stroll around the dorm building and the other buildings surrounding it until they’re too tired and passed out immediately once they reached their room.  
  
  
  
  
  
joshua decided that he liked taehyung as a friend enough to let him call by his korean name, jisoo. they both share the same birthdate (“jisoo, when is your birthday?” “eh? december 30th.” “holy cow! mine is december 30th, too!”) and same interest (“oh god, you read naruto, too?” “yeah...  _wait_ , ‘too’?” “yes! i have the manga and some figurines back in the states!”) so basically they get along pretty well.  
  
joshua didn’t feel bothered when he spotted taehyung waiting for him outside his korean studies class, munching his chocolate snacks despite the professor glared at him occasionally and caused the whole class to giggle. although, of course, he would bring it up during their lunch time together.  
  
joshua learned that this friend of his is quite a social butterfly, hence the countless friends and acquaintances he has. at times, taehyung called one or two friends to come ever and have lunch together with them, but the one who agreed most of the time was park jimin, namely taehyung’s best-best- _beeest_  (like he had told him the other day) friend since childhood.  
  
jimin is nice and really easy-going, which was why he was always the first one to actually initiate conversation with joshua who is pretty much a total opposite of taehyung, quiet and overly shy due to culture shock. he sings and dances pretty well, too, from what he had seen in one taehyung’s video, so joshua decided that he liked him too and opened up a lot since then.  
  
  
  
  
  
at one particularly busy week, joshua ended up spending more time in his room, struggling with shitload of papers instead of accepting taehyung’s invitation to attend a festival in another college across the town. he regretted it, somehow, so he thought of asking yookyung to bring him there on the last day.  
  
he was about to go to the nearest convenience store when he heard a loud _bang!_  – it was actually the front door opened very abruptly – and then he was pretty shocked when he saw two guys making out in front of him, joshua was sure one of them – who was pushed to his bed – was taehyung. maybe he was dreaming but he actually saw a glow of light coming from his wrist. realizing that he was still stunned with such a rare occurrence, joshua opted to walk out of the room, with some of the papers on his hand. out of respect, he voluntarily closed the door before he peeked a little. don’t even ask where his sudden curiosity came from.  
  
“ugh.  _taehyung_.”  
  
“god, jungkook, you’re too loud.”  
  
“i don’t fucking care, i need you to—”   
  
“you better respect my dear friend’s ears,  _jungkook_.”  
  
joshua thought he had heard enough to know that they were probably doing something out of his imagination, so he put his earphones right away and tried to finish his papers – although he ended up sleeping on the table because the classical music playlist in his phone repeated by itself.  
  
  
  
  
  
joshua woke up in the morning feeling his neck really stiff – the disadvantage of sleeping on table, indeed, he should never do that again ever. rubbing his eyes, he looked around and saw taehyung, his hair was quite a mess, searching for something in the cabinet.  
  
“ah, jisoo, you’re up?” taehyung turned his head, hands waving at him. “i’m sorry about last ni—”  
  
“it’s fine. really.” blinking, joshua got up and decided to help his friend finding whatever he’s searching now. “i didn’t know you were coming home, so half of it was my fault, too. i guess you’re looking for painkiller?” he handed taehyung a glass of water before he finally found the medicine box near the water dispenser.  
  
“oh, thanks for finding it, friend! also please don’t feel bad about it, it was all too sudden...” taehyung lowered his head, in which joshua couldn’t help but to put his hand around the other one’s shoulder.  
  
jungkook was still sleeping when taehyung explained the whole thing to joshua, about how he never actually believed in soulmate despite the random numbers attached on his wrist proving him otherwise, until he came to the college festival and saw jungkook there, performing with his indie band as vocalist and the fiasco basically happened because jungkook was drunk. “so eager and desperate to get laid after he found me as his soulmate, i think,” taehyung chuckled. “but i don’t mind, really. maybe i’m in love.”  
  
joshua, although he was pretty much your regular boy who attended church every week, had his own view about same-sex relationship, so he didn’t feel disgusted or even in the urge to shun taehyung out of his dorm at his confession.  
  
“go for it, tae. you have my full support.”  
  
  
  
  
  
one awkward day later, joshua asked yookyung if she’d like to go to the college festival together.  
  


hey nuna, wanna go to the festival across the town?

  
_dude_ , here i thought you would only go to church forever.

it was crowded, of course, but later he found out that the guests for the last day were the ones people anticipated the most. he decided to just follow yookyung around, even if that meant she’s going to introduce him to her friends and occasionally getting hit on, thankfully taehyung came to him with all of friends he had knew before; jimin, jungkook (joshua wasn’t surprised that he decided to tag along), sungjae, seungcheol and jihoon.

“someone else is going to come soon. that nerd,” seungcheol had announced before they ran onto the stage to join the crowd.

“oh, junghan? is he taking a day off from work?” jihoon looked up to seungcheol, since he’s shorter than anyone else – no one could ever mock him for his height or he would make sure you’d never ever have children in the future.

“yeaaap.”

everyone was too busy cheering for the current performer – like who ever thought exid would ever come to a festival like this!? – when joshua suddenly felt something funny wrapping around his wrist and without anyone else knowing, he sneaked out of the crowd to actually figure out what was going to happen to him, and that’s when he accidentally bumped into someone on the back and eventually fell to the ground.

“sorry, i didn’t see you—” the guy he bumped into held his hand to help him up but became very flustered in a matter of seconds. “— _oh my god_.”

joshua was very confused at the temperature change on the wrist – it was like the ice melted down on him. he looked at this guy in front of him – he’s definitely a guy, judging from his masculine figure and voice, although the sleek long hair and delicate feature this person has could be slightly deceiving – and at this point, if this is how god told joshua that the person right there is his soulmate, he wouldn’t mind at all.

“are you...”

the other guy showed him his wrist.

17060541424360

“probably.”

 

 

 

 

dinner with friends was slightly awkward on joshua’s part because his  _supposedly_  soulmate is seungcheol’s best friend, junghan, and everyone kept on encouraging them to get close with each other – more like forcing, which was why joshua felt unpleasant about it. he still got junghan’s number from seungcheol, though.

it was 2 a.m. when joshua still couldn’t sleep and, coincidentally, heard his phone buzzing from his desk. you’ve received  _a message from junghan_ , wow. his heart might or might not just race really hard. just like that, after a few distractions (checking his twitter and email feed) and doubts (“ _what if he doesn’t like me... oh wait,”_ ) he finally felt brave enough to open the message app.

joshua, right? :) this is junghan. i'm sorry about today.

it's cool, don't sweat it.

  
alright then~ seungcheol has told me a lot about you actually! 

oh, really?  
what did he tell you about me?  
me being a foreigner?

  
more than that, actually :))  
but i'd really like to know more~  
do you have free time tomorrow? 

yeah, i only have one morning class tomorrow!

  
awesome! do you know the café near the bridge?  
meet me there, i wouldn’t mind taking few hours off work for you ;) 

haha, i know that place!  
okay then. should you actually go to sleep by now?

  
about to :)  
good night, dear soulmate~ ;)

joshua chuckled to himself at the last message he received, getting the impression of the other guy as flirty – or maybe it was just a simple effort to make things less awkward than before, which he appreciated either way. he fell into deep slumber right after he set his alarm and wrapped the blanket around him.

 

 

 

 

unlike the usual, joshua didn’t see taehyung waiting for him outside the class which made the whole lecture less exciting for him. he texted him later after class and it didn’t take him a minute even to get the reply; i'm meeting jungkook!! i'm sorry i didn't tell you this morning!!! we're still bros ok!!! with a cute sticker of puppy begging for forgiveness following after. he pretended to be mad so he’s not going to reply with anything until then.

he definitely didn’t forget the text from junghan last night since he was pretty much anticipating this proper meeting between soulmates. the café could be reached with twenty minutes of walk, so he preferred that instead of spending his pocket money for bus. when he entered the place, he could see that junghan was still a bit busy behind the cashier. he took a seat near the counter first instead of ordering something.

few minutes later, junghan came with two cups of frappuccino, much to joshua’s surprise. “it’s our recommended drink here, just so you know!”

just like what joshua had imagined before, their meeting felt less awkward and tense than yesterday. maybe it’s because of the frappuccino, maybe it’s because he really found junghan very attractive, or maybe it’s because the fact that the soulmate code had contribution in making them have something to talk about. but they really got to know each other more than just what seungcheol had told junghan before.

joshua learned that junghan has the nickname ‘angel’ because he was born on october 4th – it took a lot of time for joshua to understand since he didn’t know much about wordplay and anything similar in korean – and he attended the same college as him, although he enrolled one year earlier. he lives with seungcheol and basically becomes his mom, in a sense.

“do you also cook for him, then?” joshua asked out of curiosity, his hand playing with the straw.

“well, sometimes... but i make the best ramyun, still!”

junghan, however, found his nationality status as a korean living in america fascinating. “i’ve always wanted to go to california!” the more they talked, the more junghan showed his chipper self, and joshua found it adorable.

they talked about a lot of things, from the typically boring college stuffs into the random ones, for three hours straight and – as expected – someone abruptly cut their conversation by calling junghan’s name out loud. that must be his boss. joshua couldn’t help but feeling apologetic for it, even if the other guy insisted that it wasn’t his fault at all.

“we can talk again later! maybe… over a dinner tomorrow?”

“sure.” junghan agreed, naturally pulled joshua into a hug, in which it happened then; the code on their wrist started glowing, leaving them a pleasant feeling. in that very moment, joshua was very sure that he really liked the hug, even if it’s their first time doing physical contact. “i like you already!” junghan confessed when he pulled himself from joshua, his cheeks seemingly red.

“me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> i know i'm a queen of rushed endings and i'm terribly sorry for that ;u; this is my first time writing a seventeen fic JUST A MONTH AFTER GETTING INTO THE FANDOM and also i'm proudly to call myself as a [jihan](https://twitter.com/97_0218_0406/status/619885939821670401) trash like good job self your thirst is so damn real.
> 
> lastly, i'm sorry if the characterizations are a bit off... OK PEACE OUT.


End file.
